A meeting with 33 ministers and the plenary WSIS+10 Visioning session with Kofi Annan at the WSIS Forum 2013 were a prominent opportunity for Janis Karklins, UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information, to promote the results of the UNESCO hosted WSIS+10 Review event and to discuss future developments, including the link between the WSIS+10 and the Post-2015 development agenda process

At the WSIS Forum 2013, hosted by ITU and co-organized with UNESCO, UNDP and UNCTAD, a number of sessions were dedicated to the WSIS+10 Review process. At the Ministerial Roundtable, entitled WSIS+10 Visioning Challenge, 33 ministers discussed WSIS achievements, remaining challenges, the link to the Post Millennium Development Goals Process and also key elements that should be considered in the WSIS+10 review process.

At the plenary session on the WSIS+10 Review, Kofi Annan, former Secretary-General of UN, stressed the importance of including in this review process young people. “I firmly believe they are the most promising of our resources. Young people have the drive, the capacity and skills to accept positive change. They are creative and idealistic. They find solutions to problems and they often speak out too,” said Kofi Annan.

Mr Karklins shared the results of the UNESCO-hosted WSIS+10 event, discussed the way forward and stressed the importance of ensuring a truly inclusive, multistakeholder WSIS+10 process. The final statement of the first WSIS+10 review event was indeed developed in an open, inclusive manner and adopted by consensus in the closing session of the UNESCO hosted event, which attracted 1450 participants from 130 countries, plus 800 remote participants.

Member States are expected to decide on the exact modalities of the WSIS+10 Review process at the UN General Assembly at the end of 2013.